50 in 50 #8: Utah — Spanish Valley Vineyard & Winery
By Lenn Thompson
As wine blogging star Beau Jarvis of will attest, Utah can be an interesting state when it comes to alcohol. But, much like North Dakota last week, I know very little about Utah…except this time the HBO show “Big Love” is my source of Utah information instead of the movie “Fargo.”
But, even amongst the strict laws of Mormon-influenced , there are three wineries — including .
Spanish Valley Vineyards & Winery is a small, family-owned farm winery that makes Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Syrah, Late-Harvest Riesling and cherry wine. When I say “small” I mean small: the most recent information I was able to get lists the winery’s total production at 250 cases.
I got to taste three of winemaker Stacy Dezelsky’s wines: riesling, gewurztraminer and cabernet sauvignon, and while there is some improvement to be made, I was impressed by the potential.
The 2005 Riesling ($10) is a pale greenish-yellow with a slightly syrupy appearance, a hint as to its residual sugar content. The nose is decidedly fruity with ripe peach and pear aromas. Off-dry — okay, it’s pretty sweet — there is plenty of fruit character here and a little acidity, but not quite enough to balance the sweetness. This is probably a pretty popular wine with new drinkers, but I’d like to see what Dezelsky can do with less ripe grapes that have a bit more acidity.
Next up was the 2005 Gewurtztraminer ($11), which was among the most unique gewurtzes I’ve ever tasted. Medium gold in the glass, the nose is extremely spicy — clove, ginger and Indian spices — with an undercurrent of fresh flowers and lemon zest. That intense blend of exotic spices carries over to the palate, which is medium bodied, with just a little residual sugar. Again, the acidity is a little low here, but this is an intriguing, approachable rendition of this love-it-or-leave-it variety.
Last, I tasted a 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon ($16). This deep violet-crimson wine features nice extraction and a youthful nose of black cherry and blackcurrant. Simple and flavorful, the tannins are definitely young and somewhat astringent. A blend of 80% cab, 10% merlot and 10% young-vine syrah (from vines planted just a few years ago), this is a rather rustic red, but there is something charming about it. It is a window into the potential of vineyards — which are at 4,800 feet above sea level.
It’s funny you should mention “new drinkers” — I am a new wine drinker and because I’m in Utah and I like to try local things I picked up a bottle of Late Riesling tonight.
My wine experience is limited to basically 2 bottles in my life, Among them another vintage from Castle Creek, also in Moab Utah.
For someone like me who knows more about Scotch than wine and still has a hard time appreciating the finer points of wines it’s really nice to drink. It has so little acid even I noticed, though it’s not soda-pop sweet and has enough spice to make you savour it. It’s not challenging, but really enjoyable and I’m fond of the shape of the bottle even. And it’s cheap so that’s a plus, you can afford to drop $10 and even if you don’t like it you really aren’t down anything.